SoulReaver
by Jaggid X
Summary: A 1 chapter long short story. Here, Chaud is the main character and he's chasing after someone looking for control of the SoulReaver Program, a program with the power to drain the life and energy (whether dark or light) of any Navi.


SoulReaver

UnderNet Square  
The smoke cleared as Megaman rose up from the painful encounter with the ground. Protoman stood looking at him, knowing what he had to do.  
"Protoman…you…" started Megaman.  
"I'm sorry, Megaman…" Protoman dashed forward and cut with dead-on precision.

SciLab Area 51 a few hours before  
((Crash)) Through the darkness of the area, a wall could be seen bursting open as a mysterious Navi came rushing through. After about a dozen broken walls, it came to a halt in front of a gloomy object on top of one of those small pillars you would see at a museum, except it wasn't covered by any glass. The object gave a dark glow sort of like Zero when his virus glowed around him in the Megaman X series. In other words, it looked exactly like the energy Iris used to fight Zero in MMX4 (It also looked like the Dark Elf in its energy form in the Megaman Zero series A possible clue for the future of the X series?). The culprit reached for the object but his hand was forced to a pause as a barrier became visible around the top of the pillar. An alarm sounded and the area was filled with constant red flashes every second or so.  
"I should've known…" said the Navi.  
"Really, it couldn't have sounded when you broke through all those walls?" aimlessly asked Chaud. Protoman then appeared at the opposite side of the small pillar.  
"You really think you could steel the SoulReaver program so easily?" asked Protoman. Chaud and Protoman had been a team for as long as any fan knows. They are known as the Ace NetBattler and Ace Navi throughout the world, although their rivals Lan and Megaman had always proved themselves better (we had no choice, if we didn't, we could've beaten the games). Protoman could be seen through the reoccurring red flashes, and Protoman could also easily see Megaman looking straight at him with dazed eyes.  
"Megaman?" shouted Chaud as he looked down into his PET. Megaman could be seen looking down from his last position when another flash passed by. Protoman assumed Megaman was ready to give in justly, without a fight. But as the next flash passed by, Megaman was gone.  
"Protoman, go after him!" ordered Chaud.  
"He's disappeared…" said Protoman weakly.  
"Well go after him!"  
"There's no left-over data, he just disappeared."  
"…Jack-out, we're going to Lan's house."

ACDC Town  
Chaud was running towards the street leading to Lan's house, when he finally reached the corner.  
"Lan….!" Lan's house could be seen burning in the smokeless night sticking out perfectly, almost with a factor of beauty to it.  
"He…..Lan…." started Chaud, but his stumbled words were interrupted by Protoman's voice.  
"Chaud, it's an e-mail from Megaman," said Protoman, as if nothing strange was happening.  
"Megaman…? What does it say?" asked Chaud.  
"It says 'UnderNet 5, alone.'"  
"Right…lets go!" said Chaud, not even once thinking about the lack of firefighters at the burning house. 

UnderNet 5  
"Do you see him Protoman?" asked Chaud.  
"No, there isn't anybody anywhere..!" responded Protoman.  
"Weird, the UnderNet's never empty this late at night…keep your senses sharp, somethings obviously not right." A figure moved above Protoman.  
"About time you got here, Protoman."  
"We only took 5 minutes! Where are you, Megaman? What happened to Lan? Why…..?"  
"Chaud, I still don't see him!" quickly said Protoman, getting nervous.  
"…." Megaman kept quiet.  
"You're going to pay!" said Chaud.  
"It's time to pay!" said Protoman in sequence.  
"I….." started Megaman.

_Netbattle- Protoman.EXE vs. Megaman.EXE_  
Megaman fell from above Protoman with a HeroSword at hand. Protoman could hear the air above him spread around and quickly used his saber to block Megaman's attack. Megaman's blade hit Protoman's and Megaman landed on it's flat side, flipping away not even a moment later to land a few feet in front of Protoman. Protoman darted ahead and swung at Megaman's face. Megaman ducked and sliced at Protoman's stomach. Protoman grabbed at his pierced stomach and Megaman uppercut him back into his original position (where Megaman tried to slice him from above). Megaman then stepped back slowly.  
"I didn't do it…Lan is…" he said and then teleported away. ((ring))  
"Chaud, Megaman's been spotted on the UnderNet Square, since Protoman is the only one that can match up to him, it's your job to exterminate him. Beware though, he carries a HeroSword that appears to be stolen," said an Officer Official.  
"Yeah…yeah, I know. I'm on it, Protoman, head to the UnderNet Square!"

UnderNet Square  
Protoman reached UnderNet Square to be greeted by decapitated Navis scattered around the floor, walls and even ceiling. At the other side of the entrance was Megaman, as if all of the bodies were a bunch of signs leading Protoman to his destination. He was staring at the statue that first appeared in MMBN3, and then turned around to look at Protoman with depressed eyes.  
"Protoman…I'm sorry," He ran down the stairs towards Protoman. Protoman then dashed forward and uppercut Megaman with his saber into the air. He then jumped up after Megaman and continuosly slashed him like Cloud's Omnislash from Final Fantasy VII. When he was done, he kicked Megaman down and a cloud of smoke and dust shot up from where he landed. Megaman then slowly got up.  
"I'm sorry, Megaman," Protoman said.  
"…Yeah," said Megaman and he took another look at the statue, as if expecting something. Protoman then dashed forward again to un-shoulder Megaman's head from his already dead body.  
_-Megaman.EXE Deleted-_  
"Hahahahaa!" laughed a voice.  
"Who's there?" said Chaud timidly.  
"Come into the statue to see the world's fate, Chaud and Protoman!"  
"Protoman, go!" yelled Chaud without a second thought. Protoman then sliced a vertical hole at the statue to open a portal only known to those with the authority.

SciLab Area 51  
Back in SciLab Area 51, there, Bass stood next to the SoulReaver Program from way before.  
"Bass? Then Megaman was working for you?" said Protoman in shock.  
"Heh, you could say that." A large, dark figure appeared behind and above Bass. "You could also say that I controlled his every move, from when he tried to steal this program to when he burned down Lan Hikari's house along with both of his parents!" Gospel then jumped above and in front of Bass. Protoman had to jump back to avoid from getting instantly destroyed, and Bass then began hovering over Gospel's head.  
"I made him from giving Copyman my GS code. In case you never noticed, after Alpha swallowed me, I met with him there and awaited recovery through bugs in the Secret Area where Serenade resides. Let's see how well you really fare against the same opponent Megaman faced!" With that, Bass hovered back next to the SoulReaver. Protoman began running towards his position but Gospel crushed his heavy paw in front of Protoman to stop him from getting any closer.  
"BASS!" yelled out Chaud.

_Netbattle- Protoman.EXE vs. Copyman.EXE (Gospel Code)  
_Protoman jumped up and tried to slash Gospel through the throat, but Gospel quickly caught the blade with its teath and swung Protoman over to a wall, where a small crater was left.  
"Argh! This isn't even fair! Gospel could'nt reach into Megaman's area in MMBN2!" said Protoman.  
"I couldn't care less, this isn't some cheap game!" said Bass.  
"!" said the audience. Protoman then jumped out of his crater and sent a Sonicwave/Sonicboom/Supersonic (i'll call it SuperSonic from now on) at Gospel and it deflected off of his guarded nozzle.  
"This is worthless! Protoman, we'll just have to damage someplace other than his head!" said Chaud.  
"Understood!" said Protoman, and he began running swiftly towards Gospel. Gospel then had the bright idea to suck in some air to do his Elemental Breath attacks. This, of course, just made Protoman's dash even faster and before Gospel could spit some fire, Protoman was already under him.  
"Time to nuder this dog!" said Protoman.  
"Nuder?" asked Chaud. Protoman then jumped up and sent a flurry of slashes at Gospels stomach, legs and just about everything under him. A few seconds later and a mighty roar from Gospel, Protoman had slashed through Gospel out through to his back. Gospel was still yelling in agony with a wide open jaw. Protoman saw this and dashed halfway to the wall with the crater and jumped towards Gospel's face. Gospel of course swung its paw at the speed of light and pinned Protoman into another wall.  
"censored...this looks like it might be it...!" said Protoman as Gospel began trying to reach his blood/data-dirsty jaw to his foot in order to devour Protoman.  
"Your kidding me right?" said Chaud, "Invisible, IN!" Gospel's paw then crushed into the wall where Protoman used to be.  
"A fitting death..." said Bass in disappointment. But Protoman's invisible self simply sneaked under Gospel and quickly dashed up.  
"Hmm?" quietly thought Bass, and Protoman materialized as he was under Gospel. Gospel looked down to see his food dashing towards him. Meaning to satisfy its hunger, it tried to get a bite and Protoman easily drew out a HeroSword and sliced through Gospel's jaw (in between the teath and out the back of his head; if you think this is actually pretty graphic,watch NT Warrior, and its even been on KidsWB).  
"NNOOooooooo!" cried out Copyman through a text message scrolling across the area, and Gospel began exploding.  
_-Copyman.EXE (Gospel Code) DELETED-_

"Hmm, you didn't do so bad, considering Megaman went through it slowly, and you rushed through it..." said Bass, about as good as a complement from him gets.  
"Bass! It's your turn!" yelled out Chaud, and Protoman dashed towards Bass with his HeroSword pionted in front of him. Bass made an AirBurst and threw it at the tip of Protoman's sword. The AirBurst exploded and threw Protoman a ways back.  
"Do you know why I want the SoulReaver so much, Chaud?" asked Bass, looking thoughtfully at the program he was ready to steal.  
"Go ahead. Tell me. Why?" said Chaud.  
"So then, you don't know what this program does? Well simply, it allows me to drain the energy of fallen Navis."  
"But, you can already do that with your GetAbility program...why would you want another one?"  
"Heh, one reason is that it's like an upgrade to my own program. Another is that with this thing, I can drain the power of another Navi not only to use their abilities, but make my own energy, my own signature power. With the rise of darkness around the net world, I would be able to drain a dark being and use their darkness flawlessly, without any bugs or problems with my system.  
"So then...you plan on owning the world of darkness!"  
"No, stupid human, Murkland is of no importance to me right now. This is for my own personal advancments in the Ranks of power. Now, do you understand why I led you here, Protoman?"  
"Led me here?" asked Protoman.  
"You see, the only reason Megaman has always beaten you, every, single time is because there was a Force overcoming his NetOp. Lan wasn't the one controlling Megaman, a force stronger than all of us had been using Megaman so magnificently. That force is Rank 1, not Serenade, not even me, and I want that force to bow down to me as it's master. I want to outperform a god! Since this is an unplayable story instead of the regular game (like the TV series) that Force can no longer help our Megaman (explaining why Lan lost against Chaud in NT Warrior) you are indeed the best Navi after Serenade and myself.  
"Then why didn't you bring Serenade instead of us?" asked Chaud  
"I would've, but without him OR Megaman, the UnderNet would be left as nothing. I don't want my home to become that. Now, you should be fully restored by now. Let our battle begin!" said Bass, and he smashed his hand through the barrier around SoulReaver and took it at hand. A dark goo spread from his hand all over his body until it was completely surrounded by it. After a few moments, Bass began screaming in pain and the goo exploded off of him.  
"No longer will I need a LifeAura, with this, I'm unstoppable!"

_Netbattle- Protoman.EXE vs. Bass.EXE_  
Bass put his hand out into the air as if he was going to bring out another AirBurst, but this time a dark ball of energy came out of his hand, looking almost like a bomb. He dashed above Protoman and threw it down, Protoman darted out of the way and slashed a SuperSonic towards him. Bass then slashed at it with his hand, leaving a dark trail where his hand swung. He then formed a sword with his darkness and hovered quickly down to Protoman. The two Navis swung swords and their blades collided leaving each other face to face, blade to blade. Protoman finally pushed forwards and jumped backwards to shoot yet another SuperSonic. Due to the force of Protoman's push, Bass was left defenceless and the attack hit him for full damage.  
"Don't take your accomplishment so far Chaud, I'm still new to my power, therefore I can't fight at my best," said Bass, actually trying to convince Chaud.  
"That's what I'm hoping," thought Chaud. Bass then put both of his hands forward and transfromed his hands into the Gospel Cannon, and shot out green flames at Protoman. Protoman slashed at the air before the flames could touch him and they split in front of him doing no damage. Just as the Gospel flames subsided, he swung another SuperSonic, but to his disappointment, Bass wasn't at his target's location.  
"It's disappointing how easy you were," said a voice next to his ear.  
"!" and Bass stabbed his hand into Protoman's back and out of his chest.  
"AAUUGHH!" cried Protoman.  
"Protoman!" yelled out Chaud.  
"With this energy I take from you, I'll perfect my new DarkSword and use it to conquer our Force, our god, Rank 1, whatever it is. And with its power I will unleash it around the Cyber World, destroy environmental programs around the world, destroy every money currency agencies around the world, every single building supported by computers, and destroy every Official base that's ever harmed me. Your human's will pay for my pain!"  
"B-Bass...it was...a huge mstake...! They di-didn't mean to..." said Protoman through his pain, only deciding to try to live for Chaud's sake.  
"That's exactly my point, I will destroy the imperfect human, so my kind can continue living without the misery of having humans try to control us! Your death will mark the day Navis are trully born!" said Bass.  
"But we were created by humans!"  
"That doesn't matter, God created human's and look at what they've done to him! (I'm Aethiest by the way)"  
"Auu-AAH!" cried Protoman again.  
"Protoman, try to resist!" cried Chaud, trying frantically to use any chip to save Protoman, but none of them would work.  
"It's almost done. Your energy is almost completely mine. I'll...thank you for your help in my goal...what you believe to be the worst thing ever, I will prove to be the best." With that, a dark entity seemd to come out from no where and concentrate itself into Bass' body, and he finally let Protoman's life-less body drop to the floor.  
_-Protoman.EXE DELETED-_  
"PROTOMAN!" yelled out Chaud one final time.

Chaud awoke sweating from his bed. He looked to where he remembered he left his PET to find it connected to his computer.  
"Ah...A-...A dream..." he said through breaths. He fell back to his bed and tried to get back to sleep, when something made him dart right back up.  
"And it's finally begun..." said a voice.


End file.
